Author: rhaggart

Chris Peters oversees art buying and production at Minneapolis ad agency Colle+McVoy and he was interviewed by PDN Magazine recently (here). I love this part of the interview:

PDN: Is there anything you wish photographers understood better about how to present their work to you?

Chris Peters: There’s no excuse for a bad Web site any more. I love large images. Let me see how good your photography is. My time and my attention span are short. Make sure when you showcase your work you’re showing your best work.

I’m working on a project right now where I have to visit 210 agent websites and look at all the photographers on the site (between 4 and 12) viewing each of their portfolios to determine what kind of work they do (portraits, still life, fashion, liquid, reportage…). This is an incredible exercise for me because it brings me back to my roots (Photography Director) and the reason I started this company to begin with. You see, before APhotoFolio, thumbnails on websites were for decoration. I wanted them to be large and useful, so you could find something quickly. This allows you to serve up big beautiful monitor filling images and still make your site zippy. Trust me, sites without thumbs are like fingernails on the chalkboard. It’s good to see more companies following our lead.

Minimal is a mantra around here and one of our goals has always been to reduce the number of clicks it takes to get somewhere. We give you the option for a homepage slideshow but I think going straight into your portfolio with zero clicks when the site launches is very satisfying.

Charles used Design 5 to create a fast loading, clean, highly functional site and he’s using our customizable captions, something every photojournalist needs. What’s really great about this feature is how client friendly it is: one click and captions appear with all the images, clients can click them closed after reading, and the customization possibilities are practically endless.

We’ve just released an update to our popular ipad app. If you’re not familiar with the app, it allows you to sync your entire APhotoFolio portfolio (images and video) onto an ipad, then you can lock it and hand out or mail to your clients. No need to recreate your portfolio over again on the ipad and you don’t need an internet connection to show someone your work (there’s also an ipad version of your site if you happen to be connected). Here’s what’s in the update:

* Significantly improved the sync process (approx. 3-5 times faster)
* Added 2 new color themes (grey and cream).
* Added new sync to update changes you’ve made to your site on the app
* Added the ability to toggle off the thumbnail borders
* Added the ability to change the names of the galleries inside the app
* Removed battery level indicator and time while inside the portfolio app
* Many other performance improvements

Visit the iTunes Store to download of this latest innovation from the leader in portfolio websites for FREE.